Gad and his wife scrimped and saved until they had enough money to open the Mediterranean restaurant in Pierrefonds-Roxboro.

He says business was picking up, but traffic slowed once the water started rising back in April. Then, on May 3, Gad was forced to close the restaurant.

I can't even talk…because I feel that it's all lost.- Michael Gad, flood victim

"There is no income at all," Gad said. "Myself and my wife and my three kids — we don't have any other income."

The stress is palpable. There are dark blotches on Gad's face, which he attributes to the constant worry about how he's going to pay his mortgage or feed his family.

The flooded Pierrefonds district of Montreal is seen on Monday, May 8, 2017. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press )

"We are trying to survive. We are trying just to make our kids feel like nothing major happened and we're still surviving but, you know, we are [badly] affected."

Tekka Grill sits in one of the areas hit hardest by the floods — the intersection of Saint-Jean and Pierrefonds boulevards. Even once the floodwaters recede, Gad says it will be months before he can reopen, if he reopens at all.

"We have to restart from the beginning, from scratch, and we don't have any funds," he said. "I don't think it's going to be that easy to start over. It's too hard. I don't know. We don't have anyone to talk to."

Quebec's current flood compensation program does include amounts for some businesses. But Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux said Saturday that the provincial government is looking at ways to increase the compensation available.

"I think we'll be able to make announcements very soon," he said.

Forced to layoff staff

Further east, along Gouin Boulevard, Dean Dragon knows that all too well.

He navigates around the parking lot of his mechanic shop. A half dozen cars, some belonging to customers, sit partially submerged in the bulging Rivière des Prairies.

Dragon wades carefully into his industrial garage as tires, oil cans and paint thinner float in the knee-deep, murky water. The odour of gasoline burns the eyes.

Dean Dragon stands in his flooded mechanic shop. (CBC)

Dragon smiles easily and is trying to stay positive, but he says sleep hasn't been coming easily.

"I have to do a stop payment on my rent," he said. "I've never done a stop payment cheque in my life. I've always pre-paid everything and it's something that I took a lot of pride in."

He knows it will be a long time before he'll be able to accept clients again.

"They say it's over a month before the water's going to go down. After that, get all the equipment inspected. I mean the lifts are underwater," he said. "We're going to have to find people who inspect it. I don't foresee anything before a couple of months."

Instead of fixing brakes and changing oil, Dragon has spent the past few days on the phone with insurance adjusters.

Dean Dragon's mechanic shop is one of many flooded businesses in Pierrefonds-Roxboro. (CBC)

"I'm a mechanic who opened a garage, not a businessman who opened a garage and became a mechanic," he said. "All this logistics is overwhelming. I think my head got a little bit bigger over the past five days with all this paperwork."

There are dozens of businesses in the Pierrefonds area that have had to shut down because of the floods, meaning hundreds of people are, temporarily at least, out of work.